CRA approves Cascades project changes, cost increases

Drone footage shows Cascades Park, the Firestone and Bloxham buildings and other landmarks. The Firestone and Bloxham buildings are part of a North American Properties project to create a mixed-used development.
Courtesy North American Properties

Architectural rendering of the proposed Cascades Project developed by North American Properties.(Photo: Courtesy of DAG Architects, Inc.)

The Tallahassee Community Redevelopment Agency voted 4-2 Thursday to accept the design changes made since September — adding $425,000 to the price tag of the public parking garage and giving developers an additional $2 million in tax increment reimbursements.

The changes are just two facets of a public-private partnership to build a $150 million condominium and office complex with restaurants and retail shops, and amenities meant to enhance the adjacent Cascades Park and amphitheater.

It includes $7.1 million in improvements to be split 66-34 between the developers and the CRA.

“Yours is a model for the kind of partnerships we envision for this city,” City Commissioner and CRA member Curtis Richardson said. “This project is going to be a game changer for Tallahassee.”

But County Commissioner Bill Proctor, one of the two votes against the changes, took a more jaundiced view toward the project.

“There’s a lot of rah rah rah for these tall buildings,” Proctor said after the meeting. “But we don’t have a successful track record on the high rises. "We're not Washington D.C. or Nashville with cranes going up because there is no demand.”

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Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor at the CRA meeting held Monday, Sep 25 at City Hall.(Photo: Hali Tauxe/Democrat)

City Commissioner Gil Ziffer and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum were absent for the meeting.

When presented to the CRA in September, the multi-faceted project by North American Properties and Cascades Joint Ventures included a 229-space public parking garage that the developer has agreed to build for the CRA.

The plans presented Thursday called for 244 spaces — an increase of 15 spaces at a cost of more than $28,000 per space, which changed the CRA’s cost from $6.5 million to $6.925 million.

Proctor wanted to know when the loan would be paid off or when they’d see a return on their investment. Assistant City Manager Wayne Tedder said the CRA would begin to recoup its investment by year seven.

“It will be fully funded by the folks in the parking garage,” he said.

The CRA also approved adding the value of the proposed hotel to the amount of money that will be returned to the developers as a tax credit, which caused some confusion among CRA members.

“I assumed the hotel was in this all along,” County Commissioner Mary Ann Lindley said. “I was sort of surprised to see it pop up as like, 'Oh and by the way we're adding a hotel,' because to me that has always been part of the project."

The hotel’s value and tax increment reimbursement weren't included in the fall because the developer had not identified a partner to build the hotel, said Rick McCraw, CRA program manager.

Since then, the developer has come further along in the hotel plans and asked to include the value of the hotel in figuring out its tax reimbursement. The Downtown Redevelopment Commission advisory board recommended adding the $18 million hotel value to the $132 million projected taxable value for the rest of the project, increasing the amount of tax revenue to be returned to NAP from $13.8 million to $15.7 million.

Rendering of the proposed Cascades Project hugging the park. The project belongs to North American Properties.(Photo: Courtesy of DAG Architects, Inc.)

City Commissioner Scott Maddox, who voted against the change, said the only reason he supported the project was because it went through a competitive bidding process. Adding the hotel now, he said, was tantamount to a project change order.

“If it was contemplated then it should have been in the original agreement,” Maddox said.

The project still has a lengthy growth management review process before it will be brought back for final approval.

An earlier version of this story had only partially quoted County Commissioner Mary Ann Lindley.

Contact Schweers at jschweers@tallahassee.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.